Pantocrator

Mark Millman · 04 Dec 2008, 18:25 · from 2008-December.txt.gz

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From: markjmillman at gmail.com (Mark Millman)
Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2008 13:25:48 -0500
Subject: (urth) Pantocrator
In-Reply-To: <93d4039f0812041022l1040f4e3of3672025dc19b9f1 at mail.gmail.com>
References: <W131297906196701228413586@webmail49>
	<93d4039f0812041022l1040f4e3of3672025dc19b9f1 at mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <c873c2920812041025l105524f3hc7c5c1c71c9003ed at mail.gmail.com>

Dear Mr. Watkins and Son of Witz,

Actually, the _Lexicon Urthus_ definition of pantocrator is taken
almost verbatim from Wolfe's own glossary entry for it in _The Castle
of the Otter_ (page 28), so it shows what he was thinking when he used
it.

The etymology is as Son of Witz cites in his posts:  from _pant-_,
meaning all--it's a combining form of _pan_--and _-kratia_, rule or
ruler, as in "aristocrat", "kleptocracy", and "thalassocrat", deriving
from _kratos_, strength or power.  However, the _Encyclopedia of the
Middle Ages_ (page 1077) says of it:

"Etymologically, the Greek word "pantocrator" means "all-ruler".  It
was used regularly in the Septuagint to translate the Hebrew
_Sabaoth_, an attribute of Jahweh.  When the Christian profession of
faith was formulated in Greek, the term _pantocrator_ was applied to
*G-d the Father, but translated into Latin as _omnipotens_.  Thus
pantocrator was taken to mean all-powerful rather than all-ruler.  In
spite of its etymology, this would also seem to be the word's meaning
in Byzantine Greek.  Omnipotence was also attributed to the *Holy
Spirit, but more particluarly to God the Son who, as it were, usurped
the attribute, so that by the 12th c. it was applied to *Christ almost
exclusively."

Wolfe's own definition, as Mr. Watkins points out, does seem to have
been influenced by a confusion with pankration or pankratiast,
possibly abetted by the Latin and Byzantine understandings of the
word.

Sometimes, Jupiter nods.

Best,

Mark Millman

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